


Sighs from the Depths

by candicoda



Series: The Spirits of Sorrow [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Blood and Gore, Horror, M/M, Psychological Horror, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 06:13:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16382855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candicoda/pseuds/candicoda
Summary: dong sicheng, a young dance student, finds himself far from home at the footsteps of an esteemed and deeply mysterious dance academy. when students begin to turn up missing, sicheng enlists the help of his new companions to uncover the blood-soaked secrets of the ages-old academy and its cruel directors.





	Sighs from the Depths

There was something strange in the woods.

Pressing his fingers against the cold glass, Sicheng reflected on how the landscape around him somehow seemed more sinister than the cityscape he had become so accustomed to back home- a place that now seemed worlds away from this dark setting.

The sun was finally beginning to set after a long and rather exhausting day of constant traveling and movement from one place to another. The once warm and illuminated forest suddenly began to grow cold as the sun fell behind the horizon. As the taxicab made its way along the lonely road, the trees seemed to loom over menacingly. The foliage stretched as far as the eye could see, seeming to swallow the light above as it struggled to break through the maddening thicket of leaves and twisted workings of branches. It was anything but welcoming. Even the darkness of the woods seemed to hold secrets of its own.

The young man averted his gaze from the window to the piece of paper resting in his lap. It was crumpled now, having unconsciously gripped it in his hand nearly the whole ride now. He breathed a sigh and loosened his hold, flattening the paper out before him.

‘Dong Sicheng,’ he began to read, taking in every character of his name as he had a hundred times before. ‘It is a great pleasure to inform you that your application to the Tantz Dance Academy has been accepted.’ Even now, months after he had first opened the letter, the printed words made Sicheng shiver in excitement.

‘Your admission to the Tantz Academy of Dance and Performing Arts for the Fall 2018 semester is evidence of the Admittance Committee’s confidence in your potential, as well as recognition of your achievement and unique personal qualities.’

 _Personal qualities_. Sicheng had read those words again and again and he had still yet to fully understand what qualities they meant. For so long he felt his skills were nothing on par with some of his former classmates, let alone good enough to impress the ever-watching Academy. Every since he was young, he was incredibly skilled in traditional dance, but often struggling to keep up with demands of more modern performance styles. Nonetheless, he was grateful for whatever the Academy saw in him after months of tiresome auditions. He had seen the faces of so many enrollment agents from so many places, ones that seemed to fade from existence the moment they left the building. He wasn’t sure when or where the Tantz Academy had seen him perform, but, unlike most recruiters, they truly did _see_ him.

‘We are excited to hear back from you and hope to see you this fall at our campus in Chucheon, South Korea.’

Sicheng couldn’t help a small smile, moving his thumb to uncover the last of the letter.

‘Sincerely, Lee Taeyong. Director of Admissions.’

Lee Taeyong- a name shrouded in as much mystery and intrigue as the rest of the small dance academy, whose admittance was one of the most exclusive in the world. Was it Taeyong himself that had seen him perform, or someone else? Nonetheless, Sicheng had never anticipated a response after submitting his application, let alone an acceptance letter from the quiet school tucked in the remote woods of northeastern South Korea.

A move from China to the island was certainly an irrational decision for him to make- after all, Sicheng barely spoke the language and had yet to step foot outside his familiar homeland. He had neither family nor friends to call his own for hundreds of miles… and yet, the Academy and all its secrets beckoned him to come.

Despite his foreign tongue and unconventional figure, something in his dance- in his so-called _personal qualities_ , impressed the Academy. He’d be damned if he didn’t heed its call.

As the cab began to near its destination, something outside caught Sicheng’s eye.

Out in the dark of the woods, something stirred. The quiet, almost deathly still undergrowth was suddenly disturbed. From the deep shadows of the brush emerged a figure, bathed in what light pierced the hanging foliage beside the road. It was no animal- nothing native to the forest, but a man. That much was clear.

As the car zoomed past, Sicheng sat up straight and pressed both hands on his window in utter disbelief at what he saw. The figure moved at a quick, fumbling pace out of the thick brush. With seemingly torn clothing and ragged movement, it almost seemed as if the man had been running for days.

“Stop…” Sicheng could barely breathe, watching the figure as the rushed past him. As he turned his gaze to the back window, he saw the man stumble into the dirt road behind them.

“Stop!” Sicheng yelped, finally finding the strength to speak. “Stop the car!”

The driver cried something in confusion as he slammed on the brakes, shocked by his passenger’s sudden outburst. Before the car was even at a complete stop, Sicheng was hastily unbuckling himself and bursting out the car door. He stumbled to the road on his knees before quickly picking himself back up and throwing his weight on the side of the trunk of the car, getting a good look at the road behind them.

“Hey-!” Sicheng began to shout before quickly growing quiet. The unknown figure he had just seen was suddenly gone. Vanished from his sight. Over the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears, Sicheng swore he could hear jagged footsteps fading into the distance.

His eyes scanned the brush around them in bewilderment, just about to leave the side of the car when the sharp voice of his driver alerted him back to reality. They were late already and arriving any later would surely leave them locked outside of academy grounds, his driver insisted in a panic.

His driver’s words didn’t quite register in Sicheng’s mind, for one because he didn’t at first understand him and the sight of the bizarre stumbling figure was still freshly etched in his mind. He continued to overlook the woods around him in a sort of trance. “That man… didn’t you see him?” He questioned softly.

His driver was visibly irritated and barked that it must have just been a wild boar before getting back in the driver’s seat, slamming his door with a grunt. Sicheng blocked out the driver’s continuous pestering, taking one last look at the woods around them before he steadily got back in the car, finally able to breathe as he took a seat.

His still heart pounded in his chest, feeling as if he just witnessed something he shouldn’t have. Sicheng tried to recall the face of the strange man, but he hadn’t got a good enough look. He couldn’t fathom that he truly was the only one to have seen the figure. He had always heard stories of ghosts all his life, ones that revealed themselves to unfortunate individuals to warn them of impending doom. Phantom or not, however, all Sicheng knew for sure was that the man had moved with such desperation and… fear.

Fear, surely. But of what?

As the car steadily began to move at its familiar pace, Sicheng couldn’t help one last glance behind them. An ever-growing darkness swallowed up the road behind them as they moved along, and he couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach that the strange figure, wherever he was, had been swallowed up too.

**Author's Note:**

> this spooky fic is heavily inspired by Dario Argento's Supiria (1977) after some heavy requests for a killer cult AU. i'll be adding more tags as i write. follow my twitter @forestaeyong for updates and be sure to leave some words of encouragement as i find it hard to write without it lol.


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